Should I trim the wicks while I am burning candles? No wick trimming is necessary for tea lights and votives, although they should be burned in a suitable tea light holder or a votive holder. Typically no trimming is necessary for taper candles as they are self trimming. For pillar candles, keep the wick at about 3/16". If the wick is kept longer your candle will burn with a larger flame and can result in the wax leaking out the sides. You can tell if the wick is too long because the candle will start to smoke. A properly burning candle should have no smoke. Ideally your candles should be extinguished using a snuffer. To prevent tunneling with pillar candles, burn them until the pool of wax extends to about 1/4 inch from the edge. As beeswax burns slowly, this is approximately 1 hour per inch of diameter of the candle. For example, the Honeycomb Pillar is 2 inches in diameter, so it will take about 2 hours of burn time for the pool of wax to approach the edge of the candle. This will vary a little, as different colours of wax burn at different rates. In my test it took approximately 2.5 hours. When you snuff the candle out, gently push the top edge of the candle inwards. If this is done each time you burn your candle you will be left with a small "puck" of wax.

What is this white powdery stuff forming on my candles?This is called bloom and is a natural process of components of the beeswax coming to the surface. It is an indication of high quality beeswax and can easily be rubbed off with your hands or a dry towel.

Why are there colour variations in Beeswax?The colour of beeswax is a result of the floral sources the bees forage on. Beeswax is almost pure white when first secreted by the bees, but gets its colour from the pollen and propolis the bees gather. The natural variations in colour range from almost light yellow through golden to dark brown. White beeswax has been filtered to remove the colour.

Please use caution with burning candles and never leave them unattended!If you have other questions please contact us at info@sweetbeecandles.com